About Those Who Have Died. . .

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

The people of Thessalonica who had become followers of Jesus had concerns about those who had died in their community.  To understand this concern, we have to remind ourselves that the first generations of Christians sincerely believed that Jesus was coming back any day.  I know Christians today say they believe that still, but honestly it does not compare.  The early Christians did not make future plans because their future plans were to welcome Christ when he came back.  There is believing that something is possible or even probable and then there is knowing that something is going to happen.  The fact that it didn’t happen as soon as they hoped was a big concern as we will see in Paul’s later letters.

 

So in that climate of great expectation, people wondered what was to become of those who died in the in-between time, the time between when Christ ascended and when he came back.   So Paul’s words here are meant to be pastoral.  He reminds us that people who follow Jesus grieve differently than those who don’t.  We grieve WITH HOPE.  Paul comforts the Thessalonians further that those who have died will join the rest of them when Jesus returns.  They will share eternity together.

                We’ve had a crash course in death over the last few years.  The coronavirus pandemic killed millions most of those deaths occurring in the space of one year.  Natural disasters are claiming more lives than ever before.  I will confess that the grief feels especially personal to me as my family has experienced several deaths in the last few years, more than in any previous season of my life.  I recall their lives and I shed tears for them now as I write this. I look toward the day that I will see them again.  Paul does not say that those who follow Christ do not grieve – quite the opposite.  He says that we do grieve, but we grieve WITH HOPE.  Those who we have lost will rise as Christ has risen and we will rise with them.  Thanks be to God..

                One of the things I chose to do in my grief is attend a 13-week experience called GriefShare. I am so glad that I did.  Even as a pastor with three decades of experience dealing with people in grief and loss, I have to confess that I learned a lot.  More importantly, I found sojourners who are experiencing grief as well and we found that the journey is much more bearable and even productive when you are not traveling alone.  What was amazing to me was how all of my fellow sojourners’ experiences with grief are different, yet we found so much common ground that gave us strength together.  This class is offered in most areas multiple times a year.  If you have experienced a loss sometime in the past, I highly recommend this resource.  Here is a link where you can find a GriefShare group near you. 

https://www.griefshare.org/s?center=&date_range=&day=&distance=&location_type=&query=&sort_by=&type=

 

Reflection:  Instead of a question today, take a few moments to remember those we have lost most recently.  Take comfort in the HOPE that we will be with them again.

 

Prayer:  God thank you for those we love and have died.  We hold them dear in our hearts and we hold on to the hope that they and we share – the hope of resurrection in Christ Jesus. Lord, come quickly. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the families you know who are experiencing loss right now.

 

Song: Josh Groban – To Where You Are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8CWGq8e3Bo

Pie Jesu -December 8, 2021

Pie Jesu -December 8, 2021

 

Isaiah 53:4 - Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. . .”

 

This Sunday, we will light the candle of joy.  But before we do, I think it is appropriate to spend a few moments remembering those we love but see no more.  Just because we don’t see them anymore does not mean that our love for them has also died.  More than that, we also remember that their love for us has not died either. It is the love of God that makes this possible. 

 

We pause to honor those who have died for any reason during 2021. 

 

“Pie Jesu” is not written as Christmas season song, per se, but over the last several years, it has come to be one in many churches. The Gregorian Monks included it on their Christmas collection.  Perhaps, that is because underneath the intentioned joy of this season, there is a need to express the sentiment of this song.  Andrew Lloyd Weber composed the lyrics of “Pie Jesu” by combining the several liturgical readings from the Requiem, which is a Latin Mass to honor the dead.  He did so as a way to process his own grief from two separate tragedies - a journalist who had interviewed him just weeks before dying in Northern Ireland as a result of the IRA conflicts, and the story of a Cambodian boy who was forced to murder his mutilated sister or be executed himself.  He has combined these sacred writings in a quite powerful way that I believe will endure for many years to come.  Here is the English translation of those lyrics.

 

“Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus

Father, who takes away the sins of the world

Grant them rest, grant them rest

Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus

Father, who takes away the sins of the world

Grant them rest, grant them rest

Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God

Father, who takes away the sins of the world

Grant them rest, grant them rest

everlasting

everlasting

Rest”

 

Rather than me say much more, I would encourage you to listen to the song while meditating on the lyrics and those we have lost.  Though doing this may evoke emotion (don’t worry if it does or does not), I encourage you to do it anyway.  The emotion arises out of Love.  Remember, the song is a prayer – it connects us not only with those we love but with God who loves us and those we love.  It does all this simultaneously, which can be powerful. The intent is to honor the love we have for God and people AND the love God and people have for us.  Try it.

 

Question:  No question today – just an encouragement to spend some time connecting with your love for those you love but cannot see right now.

 

Prayer:  The song “Pie Jesu” is our prayer today.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for all you know who has lost someone this year.

 

Gregorian Monks - Pie Jesu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtxJUrJOLqI&feature=youtu.be

Matthew 14:1-14 - The Heart of the Gospel

 

Matthew 14:1-14 - The Heart of the Gospel - November 10, 2021

 

Matthew 14:1-14, NIV - At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.”  Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.

On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”  The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison.  His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.  John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

 

Three mini-lessons in this pericope.  First, the ruler Herod was obviously REALLY rattled by John the Baptist.  He feared his subjects’ reaction if he executed John, but he had to fulfill a foolishly made oath to give the daughter of Herodias anything she wanted.  What she said she wanted (after her mother whispered in her ear) is John’s head on a platter.  But it’s clear Herod would not have done it otherwise. It haunts him so much that when the tetrarch hears about the commotion being raised by Jesus, he believes it is John back from the dead to cause him more problems.  Doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still doing the wrong thing.

Next, Jesus is obviously affected deeply by the news of John’s death.  Anyone who has been blindsided by such grief understands why Jesus “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.”  He just wanted to be alone to grieve.  This is important for us to see.  Jesus knows he hasn’t lost John forever.  In fact, Jesus knows more than anyone around him that He and John will be reunited in heaven pretty soon.  But still, Jesus grieves.  He has perfect faith and an eternal perspective and yet, the Son of God still intentionally withdraws to grieve.  Too many of us try to suppress our grief.  Jesus engages his grief, so why do we think we don’t need to do so?

Unfortunately, despite Jesus’s intention to engage His grief, he doesn’t get long to do so.  When he comes back from his solitary boat trip, he sees that the crowd has followed him along shore.  At the end of this sad day, there are people longing for more healing.  It must have been tempting for Jesus to say something like, “come back tomorrow.” I can even imagine myself, in the same situation, getting a little frustrated.  Instead, he chooses compassion and responds to their needs.  Compassion is always a choice.

It is because Jesus intentionally took some time to engage his own grief that he is able to then have compassion for others who are suffering.  Getting in touch with His own suffering allows him to “suffer with” (which is the root meaning of the word compassion) others.  At the heart of the Gospel is a God that is willing to enter into human suffering and then heal our deepest wounds.  This story is a microcosm of the entire book of Matthew and the other Gospels.  God knows our suffering and chooses to enter into it and heal it.  I need to hear that….a lot.  Perhaps you do too.

 

Question:  What is a place of suffering in you that perhaps, before now, you have not been willing to invite God into?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, you entered into my sorrow, shame, and suffering willingly.  I open my heart and receive your presence so that I can receive Your divine compassion.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time today praying for your own healing.  It’s not selfish; it’s necessary.

 

Song:  I Remember – Lauren Daigle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9TE8D5Vs8k

Matthew 9:14-17 - Eighteen Months Later

Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric September 28, 2021

Eighteen Months Later

 

Matthew 9:14-17, NLT - One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”.

 

March 2020, when the pandemic caused a worldwide shutdown, seems like such a long time ago.  As I take a few minutes to try and remember how things were back then, it is difficult.  If someone back in January 2020 described to me in detail all that was going to happen over the next year and half, I would have thought they were certifiably crazy.  What’s more, the pandemic continues.  What is clear is that we are still in the midst of humongous shifts in our world that we can’t even begin to predict how we will live on the other side of all this change.   We have some hints, but I’m sure we’re in for even more surprises.

 

Faced with all of this uncertainty, how do we cope? It seems that everything is different.  Schools are different.  Work is different in almost every sector of society.  Church is different. I know my tendency is to try and hold on to the familiar – routines, ways of doing things, activities that provide comfort.  There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but I know intuitively that many of those old ways of doing and being will cease to provide the comfort they once did (if they haven’t already).  I have heard many authors, preachers, and teachers use Jesus’s sayings above about patches and wineskins to try and caution me about this tendency for old structures not being able to support the new ways of being, but Jesus’s words have never hit me harder than they are now. 

 

I don’t know much at all about this “new wine” being poured out right now, but I know my “old wineskins” won’t hold it.  I see some epic wine spills coming and there is already a mess on the floor.  I have no tools to describe what our lives will be like even six months from now, because I’m too busy looking for new tools to handle what is happening right now.  As I re-read the last few sentences, it seems a bit over-dramatic for a pragmatist like me, but it does describe my current experience.  From conversations I’ve had lately, I know I’m not alone.

 

There is good news in all this.  God is still good and Jesus is still Lord.  A lot of things have and will change, but I know that God is still good and Jesus is still Lord.  I know that because I’ve experienced God’s sweet goodness many times over the past eighteen months. Many of those moments of goodness have come from exchanges I have had with you all.  Some have come from exchanges with people I didn’t know eighteen months ago.  I’ve been reminded that Jesus is still Lord because I’ve watched needed resources seemingly appear out of thin air.  I’ve gotten solutions dropped in my lap to address a problem I didn’t even realize I had yet. Yes, we will have to find new wineskins (and clean up all the messes) in order to make it in the future, but our good God/Lord Jesus will be with us. 

 

Prayer:  Lord, help us to breathe when we feel out of control and unable to face the future.  May we feel your Sweet, Sweet Spirit in that breath.  May we trust in your goodness and Lordship. Amen

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for members of US Congress as they address monumental challenges this week.

 

Song:  The Adventist Vocal Ensemble and the Congregation of St. John's, Hackney, North London - Sweet, Sweet Spirit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9EGwkimNeQ